Pass-the-Turn Piles

Preamble

It is very often the case that you are able to resolve Doomsday but, due to constraints on resources (either after pitching cards to a counter war or as a result of being able to cast it so early and being constrained on mana), you cannot immediately execute a pile. In these circumstances we would elect to use what is colloquially known as a pass-the-turn pile or PTT pile.

As previously mentioned, a pass-the-turn pile or PTT pile is simply one where, instead of having a cantrip to draw into the pile in hand, you utilise your draw for the turn instead. There are many reasons why passing the turn might be advantageous or necessary based on the resources available to you. There are also many scenarios where passing the turn multiple times is correct sometimes even up to the full 5 allowed before you are in danger of decking out.

In almost any given scenario, unless under a do or die situation, you should be able to accrue more resources and have the luxury of time if needed so do try to think about the lessons in this chapter especially hard.

This chapter will look at examples where you might wish to pass the turn and the types of pile you could build in these circumstances. It will also revisit some concepts in previous chapters and show examples where you might build a pile which can pivot to win faster or slower depending on how the circumstances might change after passing the turn. Please do remember however that all of these are just examples and that you shouldn't look to any of them as objectively correct for the situations presented.

Pass-the-Turn Piles

Almost all of the examples presented in the previous chapters can be executed as a PTT pile simply by replacing one or more of the cantrip requirements in their cost with passing the turn for each instance. Depending on how you initially cast Doomsday this also can enable additional resources (for example +1 mana) to incorporate more defensive elements into the piles. It will also provide you with a land drop often allowing the use of Cavern of Souls instead of a Lotus Petal. Let's look at a scenario where we might want to build a PTT pile.

Take the following example:

7 cards opening hand
Game 1
On the play

Here we have a great example of what looks to be a combo ready hand however we cannot actually go off in the same turn with it. Even if we were to wait one more turn we still wouldn't have the guaranteed win and our opponent could very well play some interactive piece that punishes us for waiting.

Given we have some protection in hand already, it is probably best to jam DR into DD off of the Sea and build something like what we have already seen in previous chapters:

PTT

This first example above assumes that we are able to untap and play our Island thus having to cast Ideas Unbound. Assuming this is the case we can simply execute the Ideas pile and cast Oracle with Force of Will protection. It follows the same execution steps as presented in the Simple Piles chapter.

PTT

This second example takes some inspiration from the 4 cyclers pile with some minor modifications. Assuming you are playing 2 Oracles, you can build this, passing the turn. Draw the first SW for turn. Play your Island and cycle through to the first Oracle and cast it. If they have an answer you can try to Force it. If they do manage to kill or counter the Oracle you can simply pass again and cycle Edge into the second Oracle to try and win for a second time.

This is a good example that showcases how a lot of piles can be built thinking ahead to multiple scenarios and being designed to be able to pivot depending on what happens in the opponent's turn.

Piles with Multiple Lines

Going back to the first example presented above, the pile assumes you will be able to have access to on your turn 2 and that Ideas Unbound can and will resolve. Legacy as a format though is not so forgiving and there are numerous ways that your opponents can prevent you from executing the pile as desired.

If we were to look at the pile presented and have cast DR, DD from Underground Sea we are left with the following cards in hand:

These are all tools we should think about when building the pile we want to construct. If we think about the pile built in that first example, it does not really take into account any of the other cards we have barring the Island (to cast IU) and maybe the Forces (to protect the Oracle).

PTT

Now let's look at this pile through a series of what if scenarios and see how it stacks up. If the opponent gets rid of our Land through Wasteland or Rishadan Port, we are suddenly left with no option but to pass the turn another 2-3 times to access our Oracle and by that time our opponent has had a lot of time to find more answers or apply pressure against our halved life total. Likewise if they have Daze for our Ideas Unbound, are we willing to risk Forcing it to then have the Oracle countered later in the turn? If not then we have to get a little more creative.

One thing we can do when building the pile is rearrange it slightly to facilitate the potential for needing a plan B. Let's look at the same pile but in a slightly different order:

PTT

All the cards are the same here and you can still execute it in the same fashion as before but this order gives access to Oracle a lot faster if needed. If they Daze the Ideas, we can simply play our Island and pass, (or play Island, Ponder and pass) to then try again next turn. Maybe you suspect they have multiple Force effects or a Force effect and Endurance? You can always pass the turn. Draw IU, play Island and pass again. Then draw SW, cycle into TO and play it with double Force of Will available now.

Maybe they cast a Spirit of the Labyrinth off of Cavern of Souls and Chrome Mox. Suddenly Your Ideas is useless and Ponder can't help. Having the SW means you can pass twice, cycle SW in their turn and then try to play TO with double Force of Will (pitching Ponder and IU) and even have access to one of the Petals in case they have removed one of your lands.

Some of these situations are very unlikely to occur but in any game there is the possibility that things will change quickly and it's good practice to try and run through some of these scenarios when building your pile.

Piles with Brainstorm

Brainstorm is one of the most powerful tools in enabling a change in tempo of how fast you execute a pile. Assuming you have the cards in hand, you are able to access the Oracle much quicker than you normally might which can be very advantageous against certain decks, especially if they suddenly go shields down in terms of presenting removal or other similar punishers to an imperfect pile.

Let's revisit the scenario at the start of this chapter but change the cantrip we had in hand from Ponder to Brainstorm.

7 cards opening hand
Game 1
On the play

Now that we have Brainstorm available we can easily pass the turn only once and, assuming no countermagic, we are able to decide whether to slow or fast pile here. As we are on the play in game 1 against an unknown deck it is risky to assume any resources we shall have so we should build something with flexibility and protection in it.

Let us think about something like this:

PTT + PTT + BS

1. Resolve Doomsday, Pass the Turn
2. Draw SW for turn.
3. Play Island, Pass the Turn, BS in their end step, draw SW, CoS, TO, put back CoS, TO
4. Draw TO for turn.
5. Cycle SW, draw CoS
6. Cycle SW, draw LP
7. Cast LP, crack for
8. Play CoS, name Merfolk or Wizard
9. Cast an uncounterable Oracle with 0 cards left in your deck.

If we wanted to slow pile we could follow the above sequence with Force of Will backup for any surprises. The use of Brainstorm here is merely as a cantrip to enable us to dig one card deeper. This is a pretty resilient pile that helps beat removal, counter-magic and 1 additional threat. We can however speed it up if need be thanks to Brainstorm.

Say we are against a deck like Moon Stompy and they spend their turn playing Caves of Chaos Adventurer. We know they don't have any removal or countermagic so we decide we want to go now. We can change the speed with which we execute the pile as such:

PTT + BS

1. Resolve Doomsday, Pass the Turn
2. Draw SW for turn.
3. Cycle SW, draw SW
4. Cast BS, draw CoS, TO, LP, put back FoW and FoW or SW
5. Play LP, crack for
6. Play CoS, name Merfolk or Wizard
7. Cast an uncounterable Oracle with 2 cards left in your deck.

There are many other scenarios or matchups where you might wish to slow pile but then change your mind or likewise build a faster PTT pile but then decide to wait. There is no right or wrong way to go about this as it is very context dependant but Brainstorm is a very effective tool in giving you the flexibility to do so.

Piles with Fetchlands

Fetchlands are a great way to slow pile and provide both access to additional mana and a reduction in turns needing to be passed. They also cost less life than a SW cycle.

PTT + PTT + PTT

This is a very clean pile if you get a very early Doomsday and expect to have your mana denied. It does require you to pass the turn three times but does keep you reasonably insulated versus Wasteland and Port effects.

You can combine this concept with the use of Brainstorm, especially if you have a land already in hand. Once again returning to our scenario for the chapter:

7 cards opening hand
Game 1
On the play

We could build something that instead of playing the Island straight off, incorporates a fetchland to make use of the Brainstorm in order to swap it into the pile.

Think of something like this:

PTT + BS

1. Resolve Doomsday, Pass the Turn
2. Draw SW for turn.
3. Cycle SW, draw Polluted Delta
4. Cast BS, draw LP, TO, CoS, put back CoS and Island
5. Play LP, crack for
6. Play Delta, crack to fetch Island
7. Cast Oracle with 1 card left in your deck.

This variation allows us to resolve Oracle and still hold up Force of Will (assuming our initial Sea stays in place). Useful for non- decks than might be representing removal. Again if they do take out the land we can play the Island anyways and just have the Delta as an extra card to put back with a BS if we wish to cast it.

Piles with Protection

Sometimes you might cast an early Doomsday with a cycle effect in hand but no protection. If you have a spare card you can always stack a Force of Will or similar on top to act as a safety net if needed. This is a pretty handy way to ensure you can progress the pile unihibited and is especially useful if you otherwise would have a guaranteed (if unprotected) kill next turn. Likewise you can incorporate all manner of discard spells or countermagic as required if the situation allows.

Next Steps

We've been thinking about some scenarios which have potential interaction from the opponent but a lot of our pile examples have been without protection other than Cavern of Souls. Next we'll start to think more about how we can play around what our opponent might have a bit more.